Tropical butterfly house

In Eastern Europe people may not be familiar with the idea of the butterfly house. It’s no wonder, because the origin of the butterfly houses dates back to 30 years from now. The story of the butterfly houses began in England, when the first one was built in Dorset in 1978.

After that, several butterfly houses were built all the way long from the United States of America to Asia, just to mention a few: Butterfly World by Robert Boender, Changi Butterfly Garden at the airport of Singapore, respectively the biggest in the world – the Eden House in England. Although these butterfly houses may seem different at the first look, they have one common point and that is visitors can admire the butterflies flying free, which is a unique experience for everyone.

This feature applies also to the butterfly house built by the Vulticulus Geographical Association Society in Praid. The tropical plants, the 150 square meter-big room and several hundreds of exotic butterflies aim to make the visit for all age groups unforgettable. The butterflies arrive from South-American, Asian and African butterfly farms as cocoons and after few days spent in special hatching boxes (the number of days varies depending on the species), they transform from caterpillars into wonderful butterflies.

In the tropical countries more and more butterfly farms are established which reflects the increasing number of butterfly houses. The existence of these farms is not important solely because of commercial reasons, but it has a significant role in preventing the extinction of certain species, because the natural habitat is facing continuous destruction. That is the reason why world-wide known organizations such as UNESCO or WWF provide significant financial support to butterfly farms often functioning only as little family businesses in countries like Costa Rica, Tanzania or Papua New Guinea.

The most of these farms are functioning as closed systems, that is, they won’t take wild butterflies in, they propagate them and increase their value. The creation and maintenance of the necessary conditions require expertise and special attention.

The butterfly farms together with the butterfly houses are not only tools for saving species, they are also tools of education used world-wide.